The Medieval Chronicle Society

Newsletter 8

15 November, 2009

The Medieval Chronicle Society

Website launched

Over the summer Sarah Peverley and Godfried Croenen, with the support of the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and School of English, have set up a website for the Society. The website was designed by Deborah Swain.

The aim of the site is to provide information about all the society’s activities (conferences, yearbooks and newsletters) and to act as a point of contact for people wanting to join. For the coming years Sarah and Godfried will be maintaining the website.

The site contains a small and selective links section, which will be reviewed from time to time. Suggestions for links are welcome, but there is no guarantee that suggestions will be included. Amongst others, we will not include in this section sites that do not contain clear statements about authorship and ownership, link sites, sites that are not devoted primarily to medieval chronicles, and sites that are not academic.

The Medieval Chronicle

The Medieval Chronicle VI

In September The Medieval Chronicle VI appeared. It contains keynote lectures of the 5th Chronicle Conference (Belfast 2008) and of the first Cambridge International Chronicles Symposium (CICS: Cambridge 2008), and 11 more papers. Members of the MCS, i.e. all those who receive this Newsletter, may order a copy directly from the publisher at a discount (see below).

Sad news

I am sorry having to inform you that Alan Deyermond, keynote speaker at the CICS in 2008 and one of the contributors to The Medieval Chronicle VI, passed away last September, only a week after the volume’s publication. Although I was aware that his health was not very good, the news came as a complete and shocking surprise. Earlier this year I had been in frequent contact with him about his contribution to this volume. In his comment he showed himself as precise as always, down to the place of commas and the use of italics. He was a most amiable man, a generous scholar and a great colleague.

The Medieval Chronicle VII

Papers from the first CICS will form the core of vol. VII, which will in its entirety be dedicated to chronicles written in Britain, and include papers on texts in Latin, French/Anglo-Norman, English and the Celtic languages. There is still space for one or two contributions, especially on chronicles from the Celtic areas. Guest editors of the volume will be Dr Juliana Dresvina and Nicholas Sparks, the organizers.

The possibility of a thematic volume offered itself unexpectedly, but was welcomed by the editorial board. Members are invited to submit proposals for similar thematic volumes.

The Medieval Chronicle VIII – Call for contributions

Although much of the space of vol. VIII will undoubtedly go to papers read at the conference in Pécs in 2011, members are reminded that they can always submit papers independent of conference activities.

Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle

The EMC is making steady progress. The majority of articles have now been written and the whole work should be completely edited by late summer 2010. However, we are still looking for colleagues to write leftover short articles particularly on Italy, Byzantium and the Islamic world. Anyone interested is invited to contact Graeme Dunphy on g{at}dunphy.de.

Announcements

Conferences – 2010

Medieval Chronicle Society at Leeds – July 2010

The Medieval Chronicle Society is sponsoring two sessions at the 17th International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 12-15 July 2010:

Session one: Travel and Exploration in Medieval Chronicles
Abstracts are invited for papers dealing with descriptions of travel, exploration, migration and/or conquest in medieval chronicles, and with relations between chronicles and travel accounts in other texts. We particularly welcome papers with either interdisciplinary or cross-cultural approaches, and papers that reach beyond the conventional chronological and geographical borders of the European Middle Ages.

Session two: The Medieval Chronicle
Abstracts are invited for papers dealing with any aspect of medieval chronicles. We particularly welcome papers addressing one or more of the themes of the Medieval Chronicle Society. We particularly, but by no means exclusively, welcome papers with interdisciplinary and/or diachronic approaches, and papers relating to chronicles from regions other than Western Europe.

Please send proposals for twenty-minute papers in English, French or German (title and an abstract of about 250-300 words, with a short bibliography) by e-mail to Sjoerd Levelt (s.levelt{at}seh.oxon.org). Inquiries are welcome.

The theme for CICS 2010 is Authority and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles, which will be debated over the three days during open sessions of three twenty-five minute papers, alternating with longer keynote addresses. Selected papers will be published in a volume bearing the same title within two years of the conference. The 2008 inaugural proceedings appeared in The Medieval Chronicle, vols VI (2009) and VII (2010, forthcoming).

The new symposium will comprise keynote addresses, panel discussions, a tour of Cambridge College Libraries, formal conference dinner, publications fair and wine reception. Refreshments and lunches are provided for conference guests and college accommodation is available. As on the previous occasion, a limited number of small bursaries will be awarded.

New Publications

The chronicles of Fernão Lopes

An English translation of the three chronicles of Fernão Lopes (first half of the 15th century) is being prepared by a team of British and American translators. The 4 volumes will be published by Boydell & Brewer, hopefully by the end of 2014. The project is coordinated by Teresa Amado (Lisbon, Portugal) and Amélia Hutchinson (Georgia, USA). Although it was not really inspired by the Medieval Chronicle Society, for they had started to discuss preliminary strategies before 2005, it is fair to say that the Reading conference (the first one that T. Amado attended) gave it a great incentive, namely through Chris Given-Wilson’s encouraging reaction to the idea and his suggestion of a translator. In fact, he is now a member of the Advisory Board of this work.
With the agreement of all the people involved in it, the English edition of these chronicles will be dedicated to Alan Deyermond, not only in recognition for his outstanding career as a medievalist, but also for the support and advice he gave to the project right from the beginning

Mosaics of Time: The Latin Chronicle Tradition from its Beginnings to the Sixth Century

This multi-volume work will provide a comprehensive history of the chronicle and related genres in Latin, setting them in their wider Mediterranean context. After the first, historical volume – to appear within the year – further volumes will include texts, translations and extensive commentary on that tradition. In cases where an adequate textus receptus exists, we will print that, but in most instances we are producing new editions. For more information contact the editors, Richard Burgess or Michael Kulikowski: rburgess{at}uottawa.ca – mkulikow{at}utk.edu.

Manuscript Exhibition – 2011

Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500 (Nov. 16, 2010 – Feb. 6, 2011)
J. Paul Getty Museum – Los Angeles, CA – USA – http://www.getty.edu/
‘Imagining the Past in France’ will celebrate historical imagery produced in France between about 1250 and 1500, bringing together a number of the finest masterpieces produced in the Middle Ages. The exhibition will explore the role of illumination in vernacular manuscripts as a way of formulating and disseminating a medieval idea of history, to help an entire nation understand the present and plan for the future by looking to the past. Approximately 60 manuscripts will be supplemented by a small selection of medieval objects such as tapestries and ivory boxes.
The exhibition is curated by Dr. Elizabeth Morrison, Curator, Department of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, working in conjunction with Professor Anne D. Hedeman, School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Discount for The Medieval Chronicle, vols III – VI

Members of the MCS, i.e. those who receive this Newsletter, may order volumes III – VI at a discount of 30 per cent directly from the publishers, Rodopi, Amsterdam. Send a letter, fax or e-mail within a month (i.e., before 15 December) to our contact person, mentioning “MCS Newsletter”: